


top of the world

by dryadfiona



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Mutual care and respect, idk what other tags work, rachel standing up for chloe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23308981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryadfiona/pseuds/dryadfiona
Summary: Rachel likes Chloe. Victoria hates Rachel.
Relationships: Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	top of the world

"So how's Kari?" Victoria asks, far too perky to be genuine. 

Rachel takes a drag from the cigarette she's holding, lets the smoke sit in her lungs for a moment before she exhales. "Say Chloe, Victoria, bitchy's a bad look on you."

Victoria makes a face even as the rest of the soon-to-be-Vortex-Club laughs uproariously. Rachel's not entirely sure what the Vortex Club is, honestly, other than at Blackwell and for rich people, but she's sure she's going to be a part of it. She's rich, after all, even if she's not Chase-level or Prescott-level rich, and any club where she can party is...well, a place for her to party. 

"Anyway," Victoria says when Rachel ignores her. "How _is_ she?"

"She's great," Rachel says, genuine even though her tone is disinterested, snappy. The Vortex Club isn't a place for honest emotions. She's learned that already. She's a quick learner. 

"...well, anyway," Victoria says, and Rachel smirks behind her cigarette. Dana seems to notice, the only member of this group Rachel would even consider hanging with when Chloe was also there. She smiles at her, a self-deprecating little grin that seems to communicate _why are we here again?_ , so Rachel lifts one eyebrow, glances at the bong Hayden's holding. Victoria's been speaking this whole time, Rachel notes idly. "Are you even listening to me, Rachel?"

"No," Rachel says, and only Nathan laughs at that, the rest of the group looking between the two of them with half-anxious, half-nosy little glances. "What was that, Vic?"

Victoria's eye twitches a little. "Why do you hang around that dropout, anyway?"

"You realize her grades are good enough to get her into Blackwell, right?" Rachel says, trying to sound detached even as part of her wants to start ripping Victoria's hair out.

"I just figured it had something to do with quotas," Victoria says dismissively, and Rachel focuses on the warmth in her lungs rather than the asshole talking so calmly across from her. "Someone had to get that scholarship, right?"

"Wow," Rachel says with a little sigh. "You've said a lot of stupid things, Vic, but that takes the cake. Do you actually think that or are you just being shitty because you're jealous of her, or something?"

Victoria's face flushes a bright red, and before she can say anything, Rachel stands up and stretches.

"I'm gonna hang somewhere else. You guys are boring," Rachel says cheerfully. A few of them frown, but no one goes to stop her. Dana even waves a little.

She can hear Victoria saying something angry about her as she leaves, but doesn't really care. It's not like Victoria Chase is going to keep her out of the club; Nathan's got a creepy little fixation on her and the rest of them genuinely like hanging with her, even if she doesn't like them that much. Their weed's better than the shit Chloe can afford, anyway.

Still, a choice between shitty weed with Chloe and amazing weed with the Vortex Club is barely a choice at all.

Rachel pulls herself up and onto some fountain she's definitely not supposed to be sitting on, and pulls out her phone to text Chloe.

_Can you come pick me up? I'm boredddd :(_

NO EMOJI

 _Is that a_ _yes?_

Sure enough, Chloe's beat-up old truck screeches to a halt in front of the curb. The car's fixed up enough that it _can_ drive without doing that, if the driver's careful, but Chloe's reckless as anything. It's so quintessentially her that Rachel can't help but smile. She hops down from her perch on the fountain, splashing and startling a bird resting on the ground nearby, and runs into the car.

"Hey," Rachel says.

"Vortex Club not as fun as you thought?" Chloe says smugly. 

"Victoria," Rachel says as an explanation.

"Yikes," Chloe says, pulling away from the curb, tires screeching. "Why do you waste your time with them, anyway?"

"Gotta hang out with someone when I'm not hanging out with you," Rachel says.

Chloe snorts. "Yeah, but you're friends with everyone. Why not just hang with the skaters or whatever?" 

Rachel leans her head against the window, the glass warm in the sunlight. "It's...I mean, it's weird."

"Rach, you put up with my bullshit," Chloe says. "I can handle it."

Rachel bites her bottom lip, thinking, a bad habit she only ever seems to have around Chloe. Then again, the only person she's ever really _worried_ about judging her is Chloe. She's the least likely to and the one person Rachel wouldn't be able to handle judgment from. "Uh, you know how I want to be a model?"

"Yeah," Chloe says, glancing over at her in a way that's not all that subtle. One day, Rachel will handle that. It's not as though she's not interested. She's just--scared, sometimes, of something that _means_ something. 

"Well, part of that industry is being liked," Rachel says, feeling like she's not explaining herself, but Chloe keeps looking over at her, curious and interested rather than annoyed or upset. "So it makes sense to be liked by as many people as possible?"

"Sure," Chloe says. "I mean, not like I'd know, but sounds like you know what you're talking about."

Rachel frowns. There's more she could say--her need to be liked by everybody coming _before_ the modelling dream rather than after, or the way she only really knows who she is around Chloe, but. There's a time and a place.

"Anyway," Rachel says. "We should go somewhere."

"Where to?" Chloe asks.

Rachel looks around Arcadia Bay, the tiny town she's still not sure if she loves or hates. There's the lighthouse in the distance, the Two Whales sign up ahead, American Rust. Any number of places for a misadventure, and she doesn't really care.

"You pick," Rachel says.

Chloe laughs a little. "Me? You dragged me onto a _train_ first day we really met and you're gonna let me choose?"

"Yeah," Rachel says. "I trust you."

Chloe flushes a little at that, but starts turning somewhere anyway. Rachel watches her, the sunlight along her face, the slowly fading blue of the dye, the intricate designs all along her arm, and realizes how true that trust is. 


End file.
